Identity Crisis
by Arianwen P.F. Everett
Summary: Beka Valentine is brought face to face with the mother she believed abandoned her as an infant, but the truth behind her remergence could take Andromeda's XO away forever.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Andromeda is not owned by me. I'm just playing with their toys. I'll put them back when I'm finished. 

Rated PG-13 for a some minor naughty words.   
  


Identity Crisis: Part 1

by Arianwen P.F. Everett

Seamus Zelazny Harper thought life aboard the Commonwealth ship, Andromeda, was like one big shore leave at a four star hotel, with the ship's sultry and saucy avatar, Rommie, as the French maid. She might not admit it, but he suspected she was grateful for the presence of the Eureka Maru's crew, even for his presence. His mind drifted to the Pax Magelanic and The Balance of Judgment, and what had happened to them without a crew to take care of. Yep, Rommie was lucky to have him... 

"Give it up Harper! She's a machine, and she's madly in love with Dylan anyway! You'd have better luck with.. I don't know.. Trance!" Harper's cynical boss, Beka Valentine, exclaimed, rolling her eyes for effect. She had been trying to get his attention for five minutes now, and all she had gotten was that goofy, glazed over stare the entire crew was used to by now. 

"You called me, Beka?" Trance asked, seemingly popping out of nowhere. 

"No, Harpers was just having one of his Rommie-induced fantasies. I was using you as an example, that's all," Beka explained, weariness evident in her voice. They had spent the day shopping on the quaint little planet of Etholoa, while Dylan and Rommie spent their 'shore leave' trying to convince this nothing of a planet's senate to sign the Commonwealth's charter. Someone really needed to explain the concept of shore leave to those two. 

Even Tyr had followed them to the marketplace, although where his sculptured Nietzshcian legs had taken him was anyone's guess. Beka couldn't help but secretly hope he was picking up provisions for one of his culinary delights, although she probably would never be the recipient of such lavish attention again. She'd humiliated him that night he'd cooked dinner for her, but her ego had demanded vengeance, and she had proved her point judging by the look on his face when she'd dropped her napkin and strolled off. Still he was a damn good cook! 

"So how long are we going to wait for him, Boss? I mean, I got things to finish up back on the good ship Andromeda!" Harper whined. He was also tired from their day of shopping, but they had all agreed to meet back here at 16:00 hours and that was just what they were going to do. 

"Well we could go right now and then you can be the one to explain to our resident Nietzschian mercenary why we ditched him in a mall," Beka replied, her patience warring thin. 

"Ha ha. Point taken," Harper conceded, sitting himself down on a stone bench, his muscles protesting every movement. 

Beka's mind just shut off at that point. She wasn't a thinker. Tyr was the thinker, and the muscle. She was.. a survivor.. that's what Tyr had called her. Okay, stop it right there, Valentine! Defining yourself by a man's standards was suicide! She'd seen too many chicks whind up in too many bad situations to allow that to ever happen to her! Screw it all! She was a survivor, on her own terms and by her own definition! 

Beka pushed aside a strand of hair that had chosen just that moment to to fall into her field of vision, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw a ghost, and that was all she saw as darkness instantly claimed her. 

Her body would have slammed against the faux marble floor had Tyr not arrived at just that moment. His superior Nietzschian reflexes took over and he caught her before Trance or Harper, who had been sitting mere inches away, could even stand. 

"Beka!" Trance cried out in horror, running to her friend's side and attempting to disengage Beka's limp form from their Nietzschian crew mates vise-like hold. Realizing the futility in that, Trance settled for checking Beka's pulse. Finding it's steady rhythm, the purple woman sighed with relief. 

"She's just passed out," Trance informed the panicked Harper.

Tyr was already a step ahead of his companions, cracking open an ammonia capsule and shoving it under Beka's nose. 

Just as Beka's head began twisting from side to side, instinctively trying to avoid the stabbing sensation in her nostrils, a middle aged woman broke through the crowd and grabbed Beka's arm possessively. 

"Get off my daughter, you big Oaf! She doesn't need your help! Beka! Come on back, Darling. Come on.. That's it," the older woman cooed to Andromeda's groggy XO. 

"Don't listen to her Tyr! I don't know who this fruitcake is or what she's trying to scam, but she's definitely NOT Beka's mom! Beka's mom died when she was a baby! She told me so the day of her dad's funeral!" Harper interjected quickly, lest the Nietzschian believe this woman who's appearance supported her claim. She was a mirror image of Beka Valentine, if several years older. But Harper knew any good plastic surgeon could have made it seem that way easily enough. The woman might not even be the same species as Beka for all they knew. 

Trusting his younger crew mate, Tyr grabbed the older woman and was about to throw her across the mall, when Beka finally regained full consciousness and jumped to her feet to stand between the angry Nietzschian and the middle aged woman. 

"No Tyr, don't! She is my mother, or she was till she abandoned me and Rafe as babies! She stopped being my mother long ago!" 

Beka now turned an accusing stare towards the woman who bore her. "I don't know what you thought to achieve by coming here, but I don't want any part in it! Go back under the rock you crawled out from and leave me the hell alone!" 

"I'm sorry, my Darling, but that is not an option," Beka's mother stated, signaling behind her. 

Several Nietzschians pushed a path through the gawking crowd and tried to take hold of Beka's arm. She quickly reacted, elbowing the first man in the face, but was quickly subdued by two others. Harper and Trance put in a valiant attempt to rescue their friend but they too were soon being held by two burly Nietzschians. The remaining men turned their guns on Tyr. 

"Who the hell are your goons, MOM?" Beka spat in fury. 

"You'll know everything you need to know soon enough. Right now we have an important appointment to keep," Beka's mother replied, brushing the mussed hair out of her daughter's face. Beka tried to bite her fingers off. 

"Feisty..." a towering, brown haired Nietzscheian stated, giving Beka's mother a nod of approval. His eyes then shifted, taking in the Andromeda's captured crew before resting on Tyr, and their previously bemused glint turned to icy anticipation. He circled Tyr once before decking him. The force of the strike sent Tyr down cold, and he never saw his attacker's arm blades extend above his head. 

"NO! Don't! Please! Don't kill him! I'll go with you voluntarily! Just don't kill him! Please!" Beka begged, struggling in the arms of her Nietzscheian captures. Nomatter how hard she struggled it wasn't enough, and now Tyr was going to be executed right in front of her!!! 

"Damean, Stop!" Beka's mother ordered, causing the young Nietzscheian male to pause.

"Kludge, this is none of your concern! Be silent!" the young man known as Damean replied, again raising his arm for the kill. 

"Your father placed me in charge of this assignment, and I say STOP!" Beka's mother shouted back, a familiar flare to her eyes.

"My father will place laurels on my head if I bring back the remains of this Kodiak scum! He has killed over 200 of our family!" Damean snarled. 

"Your father ultimately seeks my daughter's good will. She has her father's stubborn pride and if you kill that Kodiak scum, as you call him, she will never consent to his offer! She will do EVERYTHING in her power to undo all our plans just for spite! To her, her motley crew is more important than her own life! What do you think your father will say when I tell him that you sacrificed all your prides' hopes on petty vengence?" Beka's mother rebutted, knowing she had the higher ground and hoping this boar was smart enough to see it. When he kicked the fallen Tyr aside and stood upright, she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Now, Beka, we will be late if we don't leave this minute," Beka's mother interjected before anything else got in their way. 

"Beka! Wait! You don't know what they want!" Harper shouted, only to be punched in the gut with a gauss riffle.

"I can't live with Tyr's blood on my hands. Let's go, " Beka said softly following her mother as the older woman walked away, the Nietzscheians falling in close behind. 


	2. Identity Crisis: Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda. I'm just playing with their toys. I'll put them back when I'm finished. 

Rated PG-13 for some minor naughty words.   
  


Identity Crisis: Part 2

by Arianwen P.F. Everett

            "You stole my microtransmitters!" Rommie shouted in outrage, knowing it would have zero effect on the Nietzschean

            "You stole Rommie's micros, that is really low Tyr, even for you!  What kind of friend are you?!" Harper interjected reproachfully, coming to his favorite avatar's defense.  He realized a bit too late that that had been a foolish thing to say, when Tyr's hang sprung forward, raising him three feet into the air by his throat.

            "I am NOT this ship's 'friend'!  I am however Captain Valentine's friend, whose safety is in jeopardy at the moment.  If you are her friend or are even just interested in your own survival, you will get out of my way and SHUT UP!" Tyr growled.

            "Tyr, put Harper down!  We are all worried about Beka, but whoever took her isn't going to be found if we turn on each other!" Dylan insisted.  He knew Tyr was in a very complicated place right now, but he still wanted to keep his engineer alive.  He would speak with Tyr about his theft from the machine shop at another time, once Beka was home safe and sound.

            "We know who took Captain Valentine," Tyr responded curtly before dropping Harper unceremoniously.

            "The Drago-Kasov.  I know," Dylan conceded.  Sometimes, Tyr's intelligence wasn't a good thing.  A captain needed to be able to keep some things from his crew for their own good.  This crew never made that easy.

            "Wait!  Wait!  You two are saying the Dragons are behind this?  Why?  How is it in their interests?" Harper asked, feeling completely out of the loop.  The way he had seen it, Beka was taken by her Mom with the help of some private interest who employed Nietzscheans as muscle, like Gerentex had employed Tyr at the start of this crazy adventure. Why would the biggest, baddest Pride in known space waste time kidnapping an ordinary human like Beka Valentine?

            "That is the essential question, Mr. Harper.  Any ideas Tyr?" Dylan asked, himself in the dark on that one.  Tyr was a Nietzschean after all.  Perhaps he had some insight.     

            "None," Tyr admitted.

            "Bek…Harper, plot a course for Enga's Redoubt.  Give us a safe enough distance from the Drago-Kasov's homeworld that we remain undetected but close enough that we can be in and out in a few hours if the need arises," Dylan instructed.  It felt odd having to give so detailed an order.  With Beka in the pilot's chair, he would have just needed to tell her where to go and she would have instinctively known the rest.

            "Yes Sir," Harper replied, feeling very out of place.  They all knew this was Beka's post.  He belonged in Engineering or the Machine Shop.  

            Rommie saw Harper's discomfort and gave him a slight smile of reassurance just as the Andromeda Ascendant entered the slipstream.

* * *

            Beka looked around the quarters she had been given and whistled appreciatively.  Whatever these Nietzscheans wanted from her, they were willing to go all out to get it. 

This place was nicer than Uncle Sid's guest rooms, which only made her wearier.  Could Uncle Sid be behind this?  Was this some intricate plot to keep her quiet, having her abducted, so that without proof of her death the couriers would never deliver that damning recording to the FTA?  It didn't seem to be Uncle Sid's style, but then again, she barely even knew him anymore and that fact had nearly gotten herself and Trance killed once already.  A chill ran through her at the memory.

"If you're chilly in here, I am sure we can adjust the temperature," an unfamiliar, masculine voice stated.  Startled, Beka spun around fast coming face to face with a gorgeous brown haired man in his late 40's.  Her eyes traveled down to his forearms.  Correct that, a Nietzschean.

"Who the hell are you?" Beka asked, irritation in her voice.  She hated when people snuck up on her.  

"My name is Cortez Alexander Garr, First Alpha of the Drago-Kasov Pride, and your humble servant," the man stated, bowing conciliatorily to Beka and taking her hand for a kiss.

"The Drago-Kasov Pride?  You mean, the WHOLE Drago-Kasov Pride?" Beka asked stunned and begrudgingly impressed.

"Yes, the WHOLE pride," Cortez chuckled, revealing a perfect set of gleaming white teeth.

"Then I am sure you can spare a ship to return me to the Andromeda!" Beka responded curtly. Nietzscheans enjoyed intimidation and she wasn't giving this one the pleasure.

"I am sure you realize that will not happen.  You are very beautiful, you know? " Cortez answered enigmatically while looking Beka up and down appreciatively.  

"For a Kludge, right?" Beka replied flippantly, using the offensive term.

"You are more than just a Kludge, Rebecca, else you would not be here," Cortez stated, coming closer to the rigid human woman.  Beka stepped back.

"Cut the crap. Just what do you want with me?"  Beka sighed.  She was not in the mood for games.

Cortez looked at her confused.  "Didn't your Mother tell you? You are here to become my 62nd wife."


	3. Identity Crisis: Part 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Andromeda. I'm just playing with their toys. I'll put them back when I'm finished. 

Rated PG-13 for some minor naughty words. 

Identity Crisis: Part 3

by Arianwen P.F. Everett

            Maybe it was the exhaustion from the day, but Beka Valentine couldn't help but laugh out loud.

            "Would you mind informing me of what is so funny?  I am strong, intelligent, and virile.  I command the largest Nietzschean Fleet in the known worlds.  I rule supremely over 50,000,000,000 men, women, and children, and I am the descendent of several successful Alpha's, most notably Stalin Fredrick Ravinger and the Progenitor, Drago-Mousevini," Cortez illustrated, confused at Beka's outburst.  He had never had a female react this way to him under any circumstance.

            Beka looked into Cortez's eyes and stopped laughing.  _Fack!  He was serious!!!_

"I didn't mean to insult you.  I don't doubt your accomplishments or your worthiness.  It's just that from what I understand, Nietzscheans don't mate outside their own species.  They don't even have recreational sex outside their own species.  Why in the known universe would you want to marry me?  And anyway, don't the women ask the guys to marry them in your culture?" Beka asked, herself thoroughly confused, yet trying to remain diplomatic.  Pissing off the First Alpha of the Drago-Kasov Pride wouldn't do her any good here or anywhere.

            "Your information about my species is essentially correct.  However, I have come to believe that because of your unique make-up, our offspring would enhance the Drago-Kasov genome.  They would be intelligent, cunning, and fierce.  As to why I have abducted you for my purposes, I knew you would not willingly accept my proposal, despite its being in your best interests.  You were raised human and therefore have certain misconceptions about what makes a mate superior.  You choose to invest in a good sense of humor or whether or not you 'love' the individual, devaluing characteristics like whether the male is strong or would make a good father.  Therefore I could not expect you to consider my offer rationally.  I do not question your intellect or blame you, only the way you were raised," Cortez explained to Beka, no condescension in his voice, despite his words.

            "Thank you… I think.  But I still don't get why you chose me?  I'm just your garden-variety homo sapien sapien, barely one step removed from a tree-swinging mudfoot; what makes me such a lucky girl?" Beka asked, even more confused now than before Cortez had introduced himself.

            "I think I better answer that," Beka's mother said, entering the room freely and coming to stand next to her daughter.

            "Oh goody.  Mommy's come to save the day!" Beka quipped curtly.

            "I think you're right Samantha.  I'll leave you two to talk," Cortez conceded, ignoring his fiancé's comment.  Kissing Beka's hand once more, he bowed before leaving, appearing the perfect image of gentlemanly behavior, save the sharp boney extensions along his arms that marked him and his species as anything but.

            Once Cortez had left the room, Beka stared her mother down, ice-cold rage in her blue eyes.  "Now, tell me, MOTHER, what is all this BULLSHIT about, really!  Why am I here?  Why does that deranged Nietzschean think he is going to marry me?  And why the hell did you decide to come back into my life after all these years?  You know what, don't answer the third one!  I don't even care why you left or why you came back!"

            "Left?  Yes, I assume your father would have said that.  How else could he have explained my absence without telling you who and what you are?  Okay, as for the first question, you are here for the reason Cortez gave you.  The reason Cortez wants to marry you is… complex, but it relates to your third question.  I never left you or your brother!  Your father stole you from me, ran off with the two of you after destroying almost all of  my research.  Despite what your father thought, I did love you two, and I barely survived your loss so heartbroken was I…"

            "Oh spare me the crocodile tears, Mother!  If you truly loved me, you would have contacted me differently than abducting me and selling me into matrimonial slavery!" Beka shot back angrily.  Still, a part of her needed to hear more.  All her life she had questioned where her mother was and why she had left her young children.  Now she might finally get some answers if she could read between her parents' lies, those her father had handed her and those she was now being told.  Somewhere there had to be some truth.

            "You ungrateful wretch!  If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be here or have the immense opportunity I have handed to you!  I have worked too hard all my life for this moment and all you do is condemn me?!  Yes, I created you and Rafe for professional reasons, but that doesn't mean I didn't love you both with all my heart and soul!" Beka's mother shot back in rage.

            "What soul, Mother?" Beka replied pointedly, only to be slapped across her face.

            "There is no discussing this with you, is there?  You're too much like your father for reason right now!  I will return in an hour to answer more of your questions, but right now I think we both need to calm down a little," Beka's mother stated, getting up from the chair she had taken.  Then she left the room, her daughter's murderous stare following her every step.


End file.
